Popping the Question
by TheSoggyBug
Summary: It's Annabeth's 18th birthday. Percy wants to do something special for her, but living an hour away and going to different schools presents a challenge. Somehow he needs to make that day unforgettable, but he needs a lot more than just time to do for her what he's been wanting to do for a long time... T for awesome fluffy stuffs! Dedicated to my best friend Kassidy.
1. Chapter 1

_This takes place after the Heroes of Olympus series, but it's as if they didn't happen. They don't know about Camp Jupiter or Leo or Jason or Piper or anyone. Okay?_

_And I'm going to pretend that Annabeth's family moved to New York for the sake of this two-shot because it would be a huge hassle trying to go with what really happened. So sorry if anything is wrong or anything. Just pretend, mkay? (:_

_At any rate, I don't own any of the Percy Jackson characters or ideas, blahblahblah._

_Hope you like it!_

**oOo**

A magic pen. A bead necklace. An orange T-shirt. All souvenirs from Camp Half-Blood, all important to me. I stared at where they were tucked in an open drawer next to my bed. In less than three weeks I would be off to my seventh year of camp. Again, I'd made it nearly an entire school year without getting kicked out. My senior year of mortal school would be out the twentieth—a Thursday—and I'd be free to continue my life without stupid things like _math_ weighing my mind down.

Another souvenir (a less meaningful one, might I add) from the summers at camp was a calendar with a bunch of crazy mythological art. May's picture was Arachne the spider wrapping an outraged Athena up in thread. Athena must not have been too happy about that…

My eyes fell to the day circled with a red marker. Monday, May 3rd. Annabeth's 18th birthday. I'd gotten over the fact that she was three months older than me a while back. The only thing that bothered me was that the fact that even after years of her birthdays, I still had no idea what she liked for her presents. I'd exhausted Barnes & Nobles and Office Max and every kind of architecture thing imaginable. Her birthday was in two days and I still hadn't gotten her anything.

We lived a little over an hour away from each other, and our schools were even farther away. For previous years I'd just sent her presents via mail and wished her a happy birthday in person when we saw each other at camp. However, she was going to be officially an adult that Monday, and I needed to do something unforgettable.

I knew what I wanted to do. For many months I'd tried to build up courage, but there it was, less than 48 hours away and I was still too afraid to do any of the steps towards it.

"Dinner's ready, Percy, if you'd like to come and eat." My mom poked her head into my room. "We've got root beer in the fridge."

I turned my distracted gaze from the calendar to my mom. Sometimes my inner teenage boy tried to poke out and didn't want her coming into my room and didn't want her love at all, but I remembered what it felt like losing her and the inner teenage boy vanished. I must have been the only guy in the world who still let his mother kiss him goodbye when he went to school.

Mom smiled sympathetically at me when she saw me staring at the calendar. "…It's Annabeth's birthday on Monday, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Still no idea what to get her?"

I didn't answer. Nerves made my stomach churn.

"Well, you'll think of something, dear, but dinner's ready, so why don't you come eat?" With another smile, she closed my door and left me in silence.

I knew what I wanted to get her, alright, what I _really_ wanted to get her. Every time I thought about it recently my heart started pounding and my hands got clammy. Before I always foolishly convinced myself there would be time later before her birthday. That went on and on and there I was, no time left. If I was going to do it I needed to do it _soon_.

A million excuses immediately popped into my head, but I knew deep down that I wanted it as well—perhaps more than she did. So badly.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, I got up and left my bed to go have dinner.

Paul was out that day for something-or-other, so it was just me and Mom at the table. My mind was so preoccupied I could hardly touch my lasagna.

"Don't worry so much, Percy," she said gently, passing me my third can of soda. "She's always saying how she doesn't want any presents from you. I'm sure whatever you do decide to give her she'll love."

"It doesn't work that way…" I huffed, annoyed, chugging soda until it hurt my nose and made my eyes stream. "This is her 18th birthday. I need to do something she'll remember forever."

Maybe I could tell Mom my idea. Maybe she wouldn't want to kill me in my sleep.

"Well, is Monday a particularly important school day for her?"

"It's testing day for the underclassmen…"

"Maybe you could take her out to lunch."

"I was thinking…bigger." I bit my lip and dragged a piece of melted cheese across my plate. "I...I had an idea…"

Mom blinked expectedly, but I stuttered.

"I've…I've known her for six years, and-and we've been dating for one and a half…" I avoided the gaze boring into my forehead. "I want to…maybe…"

"You can take her to Montauk," my mom suggested.

"No, I want to—"

"There's a fireworks show going on tomorrow night you two could see."

"Nah… I really wanted t—"

"Oh, I know, you can bring her here for dinner!"

I snapped and slammed my soda down on the table. "Mom, I want to ask her to marry me."

That shut her up.

Mom's mouth popped open and she sat there with wide eyes, frozen, trying to talk but looking like a fish out of water.

One minute passed. My mom kept staring at me.

Two minutes passed.

Three.

Four.

"Percy, I—" Mom coughed a little into her hand, dropping her staggered expression to her meal. "You're…you're awful young to be thinking of such commitment. Frankly, I'd be happier if you waited at least…at least five years."

"Demigods tend to die at a younger age," I pointed out, ignoring my red cheeks. "We don't stay at the camp forever. And Annabeth and I have known each other for six years. Even half-bloods have to go start their lives _some_ time."

"But so early, Percy?" My mom put her hand on her chest and stood up. "Hold on; if we're really going to have this conversation, I need some chocolate and more coffee." She left, and when she returned a minute later, she sat back down and began munching on a bar of dark chocolate. "Oh, Percy, I just…I just can't imagine you growing up this fast…"

I forced a bite of my dinner down, and rubbed my temples. "It has to happen sometime."

Silence.

Mom cleared her throat. "…How long have you been planning this?"

I thought back.

We'd gone for a picnic last summer a few days after camp had ended, and had somehow got to talking about the future. Laughing about all those other couples we saw walking by, the children. Annabeth said that she'd want children. The conversation didn't go much farther than that, but ever since…

At that moment the looming prospect of our future stared me right in the face. She had kissed my cheek and we'd carried about our day, even though the entire time afterwards I was thinking…

Mom cleared her throat again, bringing me back into the present. "Well?"

I shook my head and shrugged, turning my eyes once again to my food. "…I'm just worried that when she goes off to college she'll…find someone else."

That was one of my greatest fears. Numerous times she'd told me of how some university in Anchorage, Alaska had an amazing architecture and engineering program, blahblahblah, but that was so far away. She might…find someone else. I had nightmares about it, and would wake up to red-hot hatred for this mystery boy rising like bile in my throat.

For a long time, nothing was said.

Then Mom took a breath. "Is it my blessing you're looking for, Percy? I admit giving it for you to bathe in the River Styx was less frightening…"

"You're blessing isn't required _this time_." I looked up, and to the heartbroken slump of her shoulders, I tried to smile. "But I'm not going anywhere without it."

If there was ever a time for my mom to burst out crying, I expected that to be the time. She folded her hands together and rested her forehead on them, as if praying, occasionally whispering to herself.

"So young…" my mom said against her fingers, sniffling. "…Never would have though…_Too_ young…"

After a while, she stood up. For a split-second I was terrified that she was going to walk away, but she stood for a minute.

I stood uncertainly as well, maybe on the notion that I could catch her if she tried running away.

A while passed as we were standing there and then—

"Percy," Mom began, lifting her head to look at me through shining eyes. "I may not…approve entirely, but I know you're my son and I trust you more than anyone else on the planet."

She walked over in front of me. Thanks to the growth spurts over the years, I was several inches taller than her, but felt like a 12-year-old again, coming home to a blue sugar cookie and a hug, always being allowed to save the worst news for last.

Mom took one of my hands in her worn ones. "And if you want to ask Annabeth her hand, I'll be right here. You have my blessing, and if you need _anything_—"

I cut her off by pulling her into a hug. Part of the weight on my shoulders had been lifted.

When we drew away, happy tears were dribbling down her face, but she hastily wiped them away.

"If there's any way I can help you, Percy, just say so," she told me, sitting back down at her spot at the table. "If you need a car, I'm sure we can convince Paul to let you borrow his."

"Borrow my what?"

I turned in surprise to see Paul standing in the doorway of the kitchen, holding a grocery sack in one hand, twirling his car keys on a finger of the other.

Before I could even pause to think of how to tell him, my mom burst out like a struck piñata.

"Percy's going to propose to Annabeth!" she gushed at top speed, but then clapped her hands over her mouth and smiled apologetically at me. "Sorry, honey. I just stole your thunder. Not my news to tell!" Bright red and beaming, she fanned her face and practically skipped from the room.

Paul took a minute before speaking.

"…So you really are, huh?" he asked, setting the bag down on a kitchen counter and taking a seat next to me.

I nodded uncomfortably. "Yeah, uh… I just told Mom and she's…"

"…not taking it well?"

"More or less." I shrugged. "I think I might have given her a heart attack."

"Well, it's big news." After helping himself to some lasagna, Paul asked, "So you've given it a lot of thought? Seventeen is an awful young age to be making any big steps."

To be honest with myself, I'd rarely seen any demigod older than 25, and though I'm certain they exist, it was kind of nerve-wracking. Better to get these things done early and—honestly—why wait? We've known each other for a long time.

I told Paul all that and he agreed reluctantly.

"True as that may be, you have to think about what lies ahead of just the proposal phase." He popped open a can of root beer. "You both still live with your families. Are you going to start a career and buy a house this early? Are your brains even mature enough to handle the responsibility of starting a family together?"

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I never said anything about starting a family.

For a minute, I was struck speechless. Of course I'd though a little about it before, what I wanted to do with my life after Camp Half-Blood, but Mom and Paul were right. It was awful early. Though that drew my expression into a frown, inside I still wanted to do it. A lot.

"That's okay, Percy, you don't have to come up with an answer yet. You're still a kid; no need rushing these things. And a proposal isn't necessarily marriage. You could wait as long as you want before that step." Paul stood with his empty plate and soda can and clapped me on the back. "You're still welcome to stay here for as long as you need. Give it some thought, son."

With that, he put his dishes away and walked out.

That night I lay on my bed and stared up at the ceiling. After hearing what my parents had to say, I was beginning to rethink things a bit.

Half of my brain argued relentlessly with the idea of a proposal. No plan for the future, no real idea how to do this, no _ring_, for Zeus' sake. Don't be an idiot, Percy. Deciding to make those kinds of choices takes time.

The other half argued back. I'd thought about it for months, and in my head it was more along the lines of making sure she was mine. Maybe it was selfish of me, but I just wanted to make sure she knew how much I wanted and needed her in my life. Tomorrow I could buy some cheap ring from the jewelry shop with money I'd saved from my weekend job and present it like a…promise ring? No, this was a proposal, not some stupid high-school infatuation. "Promise ring" sounded lame and meaningless.

How would I ask her? In the movies the guys would get down on one knee and use the girl's full name. For some reason, I couldn't imagine me doing that with Annabeth. Movies made it seem so quick and easy, but I knew it wasn't. Even days before the real event, just _thinking_ about asking her made my head rate triple.

In the morning, I woke up too early. After hitting the snooze button on my alarm three times, I managed to drag myself out of bed at 7:45. It was a long way to Annabeth's house, and that was the first thing on my list: ask Professor Chase for his daughter's hand. Nothing in the world could prepare me.

After nearly vomiting in the shower and cutting my jaw while shaving, I twitched my way into the kitchen, where Mom was already up, making eggs and bacon. She greeted me with a hug and a tall glass of orange juice.

"How did you sleep?" she asked, sliding some strips of bacon onto a plate.

"I didn't," I replied. My cheek was raw and bloody from where I'd been chewing it all night.

"So what's happening today? Do you need a ride anywhere?"

As if. Gods bless the poor soul who needed his mom to drive him to ask a man for his daughter's hand in marriage.

"Paul's lending me his."

"Where are you going first?" Mom gave me a heaping plate of breakfast, though I was too queasy to do anything except poke it.

"Annabeth's place."

"I thought you were going to wait until tomorrow, no?"

It was kind of annoying, her asking so many questions. If I didn't know her so well I would have thought she was being nosy, but no. I understood.

"I still have to talk to her dad," I said patiently, ripping a piece of fat off of a strip of bacon. Though I knew Professor Chase and knew he was a nice guy and liked me alright, the idea of asking him if I could…

"Percy? You okay?"

"I'm fine," I answered. "It's nothing."

There was a soft clink and I saw Mom set down her spatula to dip her head. She turned and pulled a chair up next to me. The look on her face I recognized as her "worried-mother expression."

"Are you sure you want to do this, honey?" she asked. "It's a huge step; you don't know what place you're putting yourself in. Have you really thought this over enough? Do you really want this?"

"…Yes, I have, and yes, I do."

That was all I said.

When breakfast was over, I made sure my debit card was in my wallet took Paul's car keys and splashed cold water all over my face to calm myself down. I was just about to walk out the door when the sight of my mom standing on a few feet away with her hands folded together stopped me.

She stood a world of sadness and strength in her eyes. "…Good luck, Percy. Be careful out there, okay?"

I thanked her and let her kiss my forehead.

The last thing I saw before leaving was Paul putting his arms around Mom and comforting her as I left. You would have thought I was moving out or something, but the way the butterflies were having a party in my gut, it couldn't have possibly been much worse.

The ride was long.

My hands were shaking.

What little food I'd eaten was threatening to make a reappearance.

The screaming, panicked voice in my head would not shut up, and when I'd gotten to their house I was certain there were circles of nervous sweat under my arms.

It was early in the day; Annabeth should be asleep. Maybe I should have called ahead of time, but I hadn't been thinking properly at all. Don't get out of the car, Percy.

I got out of the car and began the walk up to the front door.

Don't know, please don't know. We can work this out, rethink things.

I knocked on the door.

Cursed out loud in ancient Greek.

I was about to make a mad dash when the front door opened and I was forced to stay.

Annabeth's stepmother stood there in the doorway, looking awake but puzzled at my morning visit.

"Oh, good morning, Percy," she said amiably with a short smile. "Annabeth's still sleeping. I'll go wake her for you—"

"Actually," I said, wiping my clammy hands off on my jeans discretely. "I was looking for Professor Chase. Is he here?"

"Of course. Come on in."

I stepped anxiously inside, shutting the door behind me.

Smells of sizzling breakfast wafted in from the kitchen, but the house slept on. No noise of shouting children came from any room, so I assumed Annabeth's half-brothers were still asleep, as she was.

I was guided straight into the kitchen, where Professor Chase was at the table reading an old battered book and slurping coffee as his wife continued making waffles.

When I came in, he glanced at me over his glasses. "…Mr. Jackson. What a nice surprise. Are you here for Annabeth?"

Trying not to look too scared out of my mind, I wiped my hands off again and cleared my throat. "No, sir. I'm actually here to…to discuss something with you."

"Well, I don't have much time, but I'll entertain you for a minute." He closed his book and waved for me to have a seat next to him. "What seems to be the problem?"

Mrs. Stepmom offered me some waffles, which I turned down.

"There's no _problem_, Professor. I wanted to talk to you about…about Annabeth."

I was going to throw up, right then and there, all over the nice shiny table.

Annabeth's dad frowned. "What about her? Are you sure there's no problem? No great explosion of monsters she needs to help fight off?"

I shook my head. "No. I, uh…came here because I…I need to ask you something."

"I'm all ears."

I glanced up at the woman standing a little ways off. Waffles done, she was obviously waiting to hear what I had to say, but she understood my eye twitch and left the room.

How was I going to do this?

I rubbed my temples and thought.

And thought.

And thought.

Pretty soon, Annabeth's stepmom came back in.

"Should I reschedule your appointment, Frederick?" she asked, eyeing out concentrated, worried looks.

Professor Chase nodded, and she left again.

Still waiting.

"So…Annabeth's turning eighteen tomorrow," I began slowly and carefully. "And I had something in mind, that I'd wanted to do for a while, but I…I need your permission."

He frowned, resting his chin on his folded fingers. "My permission? And this has to do with your green face and constant wringing of hands, I assume?"

I took my hands off the table and tried not to be too embarrassed. My cheek began bleeding again when I began chewing on it (again), so I stopped and took a breath. "Professor, I've known Annabeth for six years. We've been through everything imaginable together—well, not _everything_, but…but dating her has been the best choice I'd ever made."

His eyebrows were slowly arching.

"And I know she's going off to college after finishing up camp and school, but before she leaves, I want to…to…"

Say it, Percy. Come on. Please say it.

Professor Chase's eyebrows were now near his hairline and he was waiting patiently for me to finish my thought.

It came out in a rush.

"Sir, I need your permission before I ask Annabeth to marry me tomorrow."

He stopped mid-slurp of his cold coffee.

Cleared his throat, and when he couldn't find his voice to respond, cleared it again.

I swallowed.

"…You want to propose? To my little girl?" Professor Chase ran his hand through his sandy blond hair and took off his glasses. "Tomorrow?"

I was afraid he'd start nagging me about our young age but instead, he blinked several times at me like he didn't believe what he was seeing.

"…I always knew that she loved you—you loved each other—but I never thought…I never thought I'd be sitting here with you today like this."

Pause.

Annabeth's dad started laughing. He reached over to grip my shoulder. "I admire your courage, Percy. Marriage is one of life's greatest adventures, and if I was going to give Annabeth away to any man, you'd be him."

Yet again, relief filled my chest so fast and hard it wanted to make me sink down onto the floor.

After getting up to pour more coffee, he raised his mug in a toast. "Best of luck to you, son. So do you have a ring yet? But of course you do."

My shock and relief left me stuttering. "A-Actually, I don't. That's my next stop."

Suddenly, the expression in Professor Chase's eyes changed. From happy and excited they grew to quiet and in a state of thought so deep he might have been frozen in place.

"I think…perhaps I should…" he muttered to himself, but then looked up at me and stood. "Yes. If you would come with me up to my study, Percy, I'd like to show you something."

Hesitantly, I got up and followed the Professor up the stairs into his workspace, which he first had to unlock. Stepping into there was mind-blowing as it had been the first time. Models of old airplanes and insane flying machines hung from the ceiling, swooping over mounds of books and the old war reenactment and shelves of gadgets and papers and pencils worn to stubs. It smelled like glue and dust, but there was no wondering why Athena had been drawn to that man.

Professor Chase motioned for me to sit in a free chair by a desk, and he sat next to me. With careful fingers he pulled one of the drawers open.

Part of me expected the insides to glow gold and be full of some sort of treasure, and in a way, it kind of did.

What my eyes perceived at first was just a drawer full of junk, but after a few seconds of looking, it was more than that. It was remnants of the professor's past. Old yellow letters and a pair of pink baby shoes—probably Annabeth's—and medals won from 8th-grade science fairs and so much more.

I wanted to look longer, but it felt intrusive, so I looked away.

Professor Chase chuckled. "Wonderful memories in this drawer, let me tell you. Now where is it…?" After a moment of rustling through the drawer, his fingers closed around a small, hinged, black box. "Ah-ha! Here." He set it in my hands.

I knew what it was. I was afraid to look inside.

"There's a story behind this. Go on." He sat back in his chair. "Open it."

I did, but cradling it in my grasp as If it was a baby bird.

The box held a single piece of jewelry.

A ring.

A simple silver band wrapped around a cluster of clear gems—diamonds. I knew just from looking at it like he'd told the truth: that ring had a story.

I flicked my gaze up to Annabeth's dad, who had gotten a wistful look in his eyes.

"…Around nineteen years ago, I met a woman," he started. "Dark hair, beautiful grey eyes, smarter than anyone I'd ever met, charming, kind, everything anyone could ever want in a woman. Sometimes she got cocky, but it was endearing."

I couldn't help but smile a little.

"Yes, she's who you're thinking of." Professor Chase let out a quiet laugh. "Annabeth's mother. Athena. Unfortunately, this story ends how all these stories end: I was left a single father of one beautiful baby girl, who looked almost exactly like her. Acted like her, too."

Frighteningly so, I agreed.

In his glazed eyes, another expression of sadness appeared. "…Somewhere between the first time I laid eyes on Athena and our daughter, I'd decided to propose to her. But she left me with a broken heart, a child, and a ring that I'd thought was just to sit and gather dust."

It was gorgeous, it really was, but I felt wrong taking something that was so special.

"Go on, Percy. Make use of it. I'd prefer it to stay in the family anyways. I'll be proud to be your father-in-law."

That just about did it for me.

_This is really happening,_ I thought. Really truly.

I couldn't thank him enough, but he didn't take thanks.

When we went back downstairs, Annabeth's stepmom was waiting.

"Your appointment is now at 10:15, dear," she told the professor. "Is everything okay?"

Annabeth's dad hadn't stopped beaming since he gave me the ring. He just patted her shoulder. "Everything is perfectly fine. The good news, however, can wait. Percy has to be off. Lots to be done, right?" The look he gave me was knowing and friendly.

"That's right. If you could tell Annabeth I said hi, that'd be great."

"Of course."

I shook both their hands and bid the sleeping house goodbye, not taking my hand out of my pocket where the ring was safely in its box.

Where to next? I didn't even know, but somewhere was better than nowhere, so I drove off with a full day ahead of me.

That night I got home around seven o'clock, starving and emotionally empty. Though I was physically tired as well, my brain wouldn't stop its constant stream of questions. What to say when I see her, where to take her, how to start the conversation leading up to The Question. So when I slumped into the kitchen and set my plastic grocery bags down on the table, I didn't even notice Mom walking in from the side.

She crept up next to me and smiled hopefully. "Did everything go well, honey? You look exhausted; let me fix you up a plate of food."

With as much enthusiasm as my drained self could muster, I recounted to my mother the days' events, from the florists' to the grocery store to the variety shop to the little old lady I'd struck up a conversation with in the checkout line. I saved the story about the trip to Annabeth's house for last.

When I finished, Mom slipped a heaping plate of leftovers in front of me just in time. She sat down and waiting until I swallowed the first bite to ask.

"So let me get this straight: You have a ring?"

I nodded.

"From Annabeth's dad."

Nod.

"That he was going to use to propose to Athena with?"

Again, nod.

Mom soaked that in. The expression on her face was read quite easily, so I put a hand in my pocket and pulled the box out to show her.

My mom let out a marveled sigh when she opened it. "…Oh, Percy…" she whispered, putting a hand up to her chest. Saltwater sparkled in her eyes, but I knew it wasn't just because the ring was so beautiful. She looked so morose and…well…old. Her hair looked a little more silver, the creases on the corners of her eyes a little deeper.

"…I can't believe this is actually happening…" Emotion spilled from her words, almost painful to hear. She was my mom. The best memories I had of her came from her kneeling at my bed when I was sick, hugging me tight when I was upset, being the best mom a mom can be.

It must have been really unbelievable and hard to take in. She'd basically raised me all by herself all my life, taught me about life. She was incredibly important to me, and it was hard for _me_. In fact, I got choked up, too, because some part of me on the inside was always going to be her little boy. I was never going to admit that out loud, of course, but still.

I stood and let her attack me with a motherly embrace that nearly strangled the life out of me.

"I'm so proud of you, Percy," she sniffed into my hair. "Just…just remember that no matter how old you get I'll always be your mom and I'll be here, okay?"

My face burned at her cheesy, loving words. "…Okay, mom. This isn't really such a huge deal f—"

"_Yes it is."_ Mom sniffed again and pulled away, wiping both of her eyes. "One second I was playing LEGOS with you in the living room and now I'm watching you go off into the big, bad world and propose to-to…"

She made no sense, especially considering I'd had countless near-death experiences by the time I was 13-years-old, but I let her think that because there was no changing her mind.

There was silence, and then my mom patted my cheek. "Well, if you're really going to do this, you're going to need to get some rest, okay? I'll be up with you and fix you a good breakfast before you leave, okay?"

"…Okay, Mom," I agreed again, and gave her one last hug before taking my grocery sack and heading off to my room.

Once in there, I stripped off my shirt and pants and flopped onto my bed in just a pair of boxers. I set my alarm clock for "Super-Duper Early" and turned the lights off, though it was going to be a long time before I actually closed my eyes and drifted off.

**oOo**

_Yeah, this was going to be just a oneshot, but it would make more sense if I split it up into TWO chapters, so how about you review and let me know what you thought of the first one, okay? _

_Thank youuu!_

_~~Soggy_


	2. Chapter 2

_Yay, I'm back! Okay, so now you can go on to the good part. I'm sorry if this has any mistakes in it. I got a new laptop and I'm trying to adjust to this weird keyboard. _

_Anyhoo, go on and read. Thanks to EVERYONE who reviewed! You guys are the sweetest. (:_

_Oh, and by the way, I altered their personalities a tiny bit to make it the proper amount of fluffiness, so don't mind their awesomeness. _

**oOo**

**ANNABETH'S POV**

The first sign of weirdness that I got was in the morning.

I arrived at school with my book bag slung on my shoulder and lost in thought. Percy hadn't Iris-Messaged me last night… He always did that the night before my birthday. He probably would that night. No worries. Still, it had been a while since I'd last seen him; What if he got attacked since we last talked?

Percy can take care of himself, Annabeth, I scolded myself at my locker. He's probably just…busy.

My train of thought was rudely interrupted when I dialed my locker combo and came face-to-face with a bouquet of lily-of-the-valley and baby's breath bigger than my head leaking from the top shelf. White petals lined the bottom of my locker and poked through the vent and were stuck in the hinges.

I got over my initial surprise quickly and glanced around on chance I got to see who gave me the bouquet. Probably just a creep I had stalking me at that moment. None of them seem to understand me when I say I had a boyfriend. I've had to slug more than one of them on multiple occasions, because high-school boys just don't seem to be able to keep their hands to themselves.

There wasn't any card on the flowers, and no one around me looked suspicious, so I just grabbed my books and closed my locker again. A few people around me had seen the bouquet poking from my locker and were whispering.

I was used to the whispering. I was a straight-A student who was the favorite of pretty much every teacher in the school, didn't seem to have any "close" friends, mostly just spoke when spoken to. The few kids I call my friends believed that I made up Percy since they never saw him here or any pictures (I preferred not to flaunt something that belonged just to me). No one really seemed to want to be around me that much anyways, because rumor has it I could pack a punch.

I didn't mind any of it. Most of the time I chose sitting alone in classes or at lunch either to have some peace while thinking—which I did a lot of those days—or just some _peace_. The kids there at the mortal school I was going to were terribly immature and shallow. It was like going to a school entirely full of Aphrodite kids. It was all I could do not to rip my hair out every day.

The first few classes continued like normal. My teachers told me happy birthday, gave me free homework passes (though I never used them) and things went on.

The third hour of my day was Government. Most people translated that into "Nap Time," but I found it interesting. I took notes and paid attention and read where my textbook instructed. Things went fine up until when the bell rang.

"One second, Miss Chase," my Government teacher said when I was gathering my notebooks up to go to my next class.

I glanced up and saw him approaching me with something in his hands.

"Someone dropped this off in the office for you," he explained, handing me a…pencil?

I took it and squinted at the pencil and the tiny designs of little purple owls. One of the stupid presents my stalkers left, probably. It was tiring.

"It's grape-scented."

"Thank you, Mr. Calvert," I sighed, stuffing the pencil into my book bag.

"Have a good birthday." He waved slightly as I left the classroom.

Birthdays at mortal schools were less than desirable. I shuffled back to my locker and opened it, once again getting hit with the scent of flowers.

"Who gave you the flowers, Annabeth?" asked a voice behind me.

I turned, with a raised eyebrow, to find a cluster of made-up, preppy girls standing off a ways. The one who'd spoken to me had bleached hair straightened into a thin ponytail, and was wearing tight, sheer clothing. I didn't know her name, but she apparently knew mine.

I ignored her.

"There wasn't a card?"

"That's none of your business," I responded coolly, shouldering my bag again.

"It was probably your imaginary boyfriend," she giggled, and her cronies giggled, too. "Too bad he couldn't give them to you in person. What's his name again?"

I felt myself getting red with anger, but I forced myself to control it. "His name is Percy, and he's not imaginary," I said through clenched teeth, and slammed my locker shut. "If you'll excuse me, I need t—"

I was interrupted as the water fountain opposite my locker shuddered and exploded. A jet of water as strong as a fireman's hose shot from the pipe and blasted the girls up against the lockers.

They screamed and scrabbled onto the floor, gasping and yelling.

For a second, insane excitement flooded my throat and I whipped my head around. Kids were staring at us and the broken water fountain, most I recognized from lunch or classes, but none I really wanted to see. With every second I _didn't_ see him, the more disappointed I grew.

Teachers came soon to evacuate the hallway and guide the sopping wet girls to the nurses. One teacher offered to get me some dryer clothes, but since I was just barely sprayed, I turned it down and walked off to my fourth-hour class early.

Lunch was boring, and the sixth hour class was as well. The last hour of the day, trigonometry, I was distracted the whole time. I tapped my pencil-scented pencil (the grape one was currently rotting at the bottom of my bag) on the desk and absentmindedly ripped a free homework pass into a billion pieces. By the time the bell rang, I had a pile of confetti on my desk and teeth marks in my pencil. Within seconds, all my classmates had high-tailed it out of there, shouting excitedly for the end of the day.

I stood up when everyone was gone and started shoving all of my stuff back into my bag when someone wrapped his arms around me from behind and put his lips against my ear.

"Happy 18th, Annabeth," a familiar voice whispered.

I admit, being ADHD made me a little high-strung, and combining that with being wary of the creepers that stalk me, I couldn't help but scramble away, readying to defend myself against a creeper.

Percy grinned at me and held his hands up in surrender. "Sorry! Didn't mean to scare you."

"Percy!" I said in surprise, and immediately threw my arms around his neck. My day had been made ultimately better upon his arrival. I gripped him tightly and laughed. It really had been too long since I last saw him.

When I let go, he kept ahold of one of my hands. "Sorry about the flowers. It was a little much, wasn't it?"

"That was you?" I said in awe, shaking my head, but it really didn't surprise me too much now that he was there in front of me. "How'd you get my locker combination, just out of curiosity?"

"You gave it to me at the beginning of the school year, remember?"

I didn't, actually, but whatever. I was too happy with the fact that he was here with me to dwell on that for too long.

My trig teacher was peering at us over her glasses. "…Is everything alright, Annabeth?"

"Alright?" I glanced up at Percy. He was wearing a black hoodie and a pair of jeans with sandals. His hair was messy, as usual, and hanging into his twinkly green eyes. Something was shining in his expression, though, something I hadn't seen before.

My smile faltered a little, knowing that I'd need to decipher his hidden feeling, but not then.

I slung my pack on my shoulder and then wrapped an arm around Percy's waist tightly. "Everything's fine, thank you. This is Percy Jackson. He's from Goode."

"Please to finally meet you, Mr. Jackson." The teacher shook Percy's hand briefly and then turned her eyes back to the papers she was grading. "Now be on your way, you two."

On our way out the trig room, arms around each other, we got stares from the majority of the student population. The girls were either ogling at Percy or glaring at me with hatred. The guys were glaring at Percy with equal hatred, and some even had the nerve to flick him offensive hand gestures.

It was hard not snickering, but I managed up until I opened my locker again. Petals fluttered to the floor and down my front, and I burst out laughing.

"I'm just really glad you're here, Percy. I was afraid my birthday was going to be terrible." It sounded cheesy, but I reached up and kissed his cheek. "Thank you."

A flicker of something—fear, maybe, but that was weird—crossed his face, but he just smiled at me and leaned against the lockers. "Mind if I steal you for the rest of the day, or does your dad want you home?

"Nah, he's fine."

Just then I saw the gaggle of preps shuffling down the hall in their frumpy, borrowed clothing. They saw me, and saw Percy, and I swear they looked like they could start spitting fire.

Percy followed my gaze and frowned at the girls. "…Why do they look so upset?"

"They're just jealous because _they_ don't have sexy boyfriends." It was meant as a joke, but it put an incredulous look on his face.

He squinted at them and then peered doubtfully down at me. "…I don't…"

"Come on." I grabbed my jacket and scooped up the bouquet with one of my arms and took Percy's hand with my free one. "Let's go out of here."

**PERCY'S POV**

If Annabeth noticed my anxiety at all, she didn't acknowledge it.

The day was turning out to be _perfect_, actually. Since I wasn't sure what she wanted for our picnic, I first took Annabeth to the grocery store, which turned out to be a hilarious disaster. We ended up running out after paying, laughing hysterically.

Though the ring felt like a bowling ball in my pocket, I did a good job acting like nothing was on my mind.

That day Annabeth looked—well, "beautiful" didn't even _start_ to cover it. It wasn't the small shorts or the low-cut tank top or the way her curls fell down her back. It was just the way she shone and laughed and refused to let go of my hand, the familiarity.

On the way to Central Park (where our super-early picnic dinner was going to be), in the car, she held one of my hands on her lap and toyed absentmindedly with my fingers. When she glanced over and saw me looking at her, she rolled her grey eyes.

"What's that look for?"

I shook my head, but looked back at the road just in time for the oncoming traffic honking angrily at me, and I yanked my steering wheel to drive the car back into my own lane.

"You know, crashing would make for a pretty awful birthday," Annabeth said casually as the other drives flipped me off and honked more. "Going on a picnic is a much better present than dying, so do try to stick with that."

Oh, just wait until I give you the _real_ present. For a brief second, panic and anxiety flooded my chest, and it was literally painful swallowing it down before she noticed.

The drive wasn't long, and when we got there, I parked the car and got out to open the door for Annabeth. She thanked me and offered to carry the blanket.

The weather was perfect: brilliant blue sky, faint breeze, the temperature hovering around 80 degrees Fahrenheit. It took a bit of walking to find a good spot to spread the blanket, but I would only accept the perfect place. This one was too shady, that one was too crowded. Hopefully, that day was going to be in my memory forever, so it had to be just right.

When we were finally spread the blanket and put our stuff down, Annabeth stretched out next to our picnic basket.

"You are so picky," she said. "This spot looks no different from the other fifty we passed."

I didn't respond to that, and just sat down next to her.

Grass grew extraordinarily green in the sunlight around, and few people were visible near us. An elderly couple sat at a park bench a ways off feeding bits of bread to pigeons (I thought you only saw that in movies, but apparently not). A mother sat in the shade, reading a book while her young daughter blew bubbles. It was all really quite normal, and no one paid any attention to us, which was fine.

As we got settled down and began making the sandwiches, light conversation began.

"So how has your day been so far?" I asked her, opening a jar of mayonnaise.

Annabeth didn't pause rummaging through the basket. "Absurd, as usual. Other guys going after me like drunken puppies trying to win my love by sending me weird stuff, me nearly strangling some girls for being convinced you don't exist, that sort of thing…"

I knew what she meant. If it hadn't been for all of the pictures of us I kept at school, no one would believe she existed either. I would seem like just another lonely loser who decided to make up some beautiful blond girl I was dating to make myself feel better. The situation was different with Annabeth, seeing as how the only way to describe me was as the dyslexic, tacky klutz I was. It gave me a laugh thinking about it.

"Alright, I'll buy that. What do you mean by 'weird stuff,' though?"

Annabeth shrugged and stole a bit of lettuce. "A grape-scented pencil." Her eyebrows furrowed as if that had some huge, symbolic meaning. "…With little purple owls on it."

I couldn't help myself and just cracked up. "Weird? I thought you'd like it!"

"That was—?" Annabeth began laughing, too, and put down her food to shove me sideways, which only made us laugh harder. "You are so LAME, Percy Jackson. I suppose it was you who blew up the water fountain as well?"

Still grinning, I held my hands up in defense. "Guilty as charged."

"You're insane, you know that?" After kicking off her flip-flops, Annabeth stretched her legs across my lap and laid back, absentmindedly sucking the pits out of cherries. "But thank you for rescuing me. This is fun."

Fun…

I watched her through curiously narrowed eyes. The picnic felt like any other we might have had. There was a sort of innocent air to everything that made it hard to take the situation as seriously as I should be.

Annabeth gazed at the sky, grey eyes completely lost in thought as they often were, her lips stained red from the cherries. And somehow, _somewhere_, I was going to have to find the courage to ask The Question.

Just in case, I put my hand to my jeans to make sure the ring was still there. It was, as was Riptide, but unlike the latter, if I lose the ring it wasn't returning to me. It sat there in its box, feeling like a million pounds in my pocket and on my shoulders.

"Are you okay, Perce? You look like you have something on your mind."

I glanced over at Annabeth and she was looking at me.

"…It can wait."

That was as far as I dared to go on that subject for now, and I pulled a blue sugar cookie from the basket.

Things were strangely peaceful and ordinary. We ate a good early dinner, sprawled on our picnic blanket, listening to the sounds of New York around us. We didn't talk, really, asides from the occasional casual remark and laughter. Annabeth seemed totally absorbed in thought the entire time. She barely even blinked.

After a while, my ADHD was making it difficult to stay still.

"Hey, Annabeth," I said, sitting up and pulling something out of a plastic sack I'd brought in addition to the picnic basket.

Annabeth turned her eyes up at me and raised her eyebrows when she saw what I was holding.

"You can play Frisbee, right?"

She grinned and got up onto her feet with sudden liveliness and a challenging twinkle in her eyes. "'Can I play Frisbee?'" she mocked. "I'm going to whoop your _butt_."

Once the game got going it was really hard to stop laughing. When playing Frisbee with two trained, agile, teenage demigods, things got very intense very fast, and nothing was out of bounds.

When I tossed the disk too high, Annabeth leapt up, grabbed onto a tree and used it as leverage to fling herself into the air in its direction, landing with a flawless shoulder-roll, Frisbee caught against her chest.

The people around gave us questioning glances every now and again, but remained quiet.

Things really got serious when the disk went wildly off-course and both Annabeth and I sprinted after it. It turned quickly into a race, which ended with me diving at the last second. Though my attempted shoulder-roll was slightly painful, I didn't let on, and ended crouched in front of the Frisbee.

Annabeth only had time to pause with curious amusement before I grabbed a fallen branch near my feet and brandished it like a sword at her.

"On guard, Annabeth Chase. The Frisbee belongs to me."

It was absolutely ridiculous.

She grinned and only allowed me a millisecond before taking a branch for her own and bringing it down in a swooping gesture.

Now, fighting with real—and very _dangerous_—swords was one thing. It got you sweaty and shaking and full of adrenaline.

Fighting with sticks was another.

I was an alright swordsman, sure, but without the boundaries of accidentally killing my lovely opponent, but in the risk of breaking your weapon, I felt _invincible_. I slashed, hacked and dodged, whirling and stabbing and sidestepping and blocking. With every blow of the branches they let out terrible cracks, but held up surprisingly well for the most bit.

It was when Annabeth's broke I found my opportunity. The split-second break she took to try and retrieve a new branch was what it took for me to knock her feet out from under her, pin her to the ground and hold my "sword" at her throat.

"Any last words, Annabeth?" I said, panting heavily but unable to keep myself from grinning.

She was smiling her face off, too, obviously not that upset she was defeated. With a finger, Annabeth beckoned me closer until I was leaning down with my ear near her lips.

"Do you see the expression of that little girl over there?" she whispered, nodding off to our left.

I flicked my eyes over to see.

The woman who was reading her book in the shade was still absorbed, but the little girl who used to be blowing bubbles had stopped. Her eyes were the size of bright blue dinner plates, mouth opened in complete shock. The hand holding the little container of bubble solution was tilting so where the sticky mixture was pouring out onto the grass, but she didn't seem to notice. She was frozen looking at us.

For a second I was caught staring at the little girl. She had on a pink dress on that looked stained down the front from something that looked suspiciously like Popsicle, and tiny blond ringlets pulled into two ponytails on either side of her head.

The blond hair reminded me of Annabeth's, and suddenly I was forced out of the present. My mind flashed forward twenty years, to Annabeth and me at this very same spot, but with our _own_ child, giggling and blowing bubbles. When I blinked and I was back to the present, it took a few seconds to orient myself after such an image.

"Percy?"

Annabeth noticed that I'd dropped the stick and had sunk next to her, eyes unmoving from the child. It must have been creepy, me staring like that, so with difficulty, I tore my gaze away.

"Percy," Annabeth repeated, sitting up on her elbows. "Are you alright?"

No time better than the present. It really was now or never. Here it goes.

Come on.

I opened my mouth.

Some strangled noises came out, and I cleared my throat.

Cleared it again.

"Annabeth, I think I need to talk to you."

Her brows puckered into a sweet, concerned expression, and she nodded, as if knowing it was important.

This had to be done very delicately…

After standing, I carefully helped her up with me and we went to retrieve the Frisbee before returning to the picnic basket.

Oh, gods, I was going to hyperventilate. My heart already began its usual frantic routine in my throat.

I sat heavily on the blanket, and when Annabeth did, too, I put my hand on her arm.

"If you could…if you could stand," my hoarse voice croaked out.

My hands were shaking and my legs had that weak feeling like right before you vomited. Maybe I was going to. At least it would save me from having to—

No, this is a good thing. Come on, Percy.

Annabeth was standing up in front of me as I tried gathering my courage. It wasn't easy. Somehow I just _knew_ my face was green and eyes were twitching.

"Perce—"

I held up a finger to stop her again.

Come on. You can do it.

"…You have books," I began nervously, taking deep breaths to calm myself down, but couldn't look her in the eyes yet. "You have books and all sorts of architectural _stuff_, and-and there was nothing for me to get you that would…mean something."

"But this picnic—" she started weakly, but I stopped her again.

"After this summer you're going to go to go to Alaska, right? For college?"

Annabeth cleared her throat and nodded uncertainly. "Georgia, actually, but yeah."

Whatever. I was too busy freaking out to care that I'd got it wrong.

My heart threatened to crash its way from my ribcage.

I was going to pass out.

I bit the inside of my cheek, hard, and reached into my jeans pocket with a hand. The little box felt cold against my fingers, but I held onto it tight as I forced myself onto just one knee—like in the movies, right?

Annabeth's eyes turned curiously down at the hand in my pocket, and for some strange reason that I couldn't possibly fathom, her expression seemed to lighten considerably until it looked something like amusement. Why was she…?

Oh, never mind that.

Anxiety that tasted like poison rose in my throat, but I swallowed it down. "We've…we've known each other for six years. Almost exactly. And…and we've been dating for two."

She nodded.

"But these have…these have been the best two years of my life." Gods, that sounded cheesy… "Remember the week in Montauk, Annabeth?"

Annabeth let out a laugh. "That was awesome."

"Well, yeah, but I've just been thinking…I've been happiest with you." Stop being so brainless, Percy. Say something more intelligent. "And I can't imagine life without you, especially you moving all the way to…to Georgia."

Gods, this was terrible. Any second I was going to pass out from nerves.

"Annabeth, this doesn't have to be right away, and…" With a shaking hand, I pulled the box from my pocket and held it in both so tight the old case might snap. "…and I know we're young, but demigods don't live that long. Before it's too late—Before I lose you to Georgia, I want…"

Say it.

For the love of Zeus, _say it_.

"I want…you to marry me." I opened the box and cringed, as if wincing away from blinding light. The nervousness had grown like a tumor in my throat, making me unable to look at her, to do anything except for focusing on breathing.

My heart was pounding painfully, making me want to dive under the nearest bush and rock back and forth. Every part of my body was nearly overridden by nerves and everything else. I couldn't open my eyes, I couldn't look at her, but I had to.

Sucking in the last drops of courage from the air, I peeled my eyelids open and squinted up at Annabeth fearfully, hands trembling so bad they nearly dropped the box. What I saw was not quite what I expected.

Annabeth had a look on like impatience…or entertainment…exasperation, even. She opened her mouth to say something but closed it just as quickly, biting her lip and looking at me almost as though she...felt _sorry_ for me.

I swallowed the rising panic from her silence and looked away again. "Before you…you say no, just know that we can wait as long as you want. I just…"

Gods, stop that.

There was a lump in my throat, partly from the nerves, but mostly because Annabeth. Her look, her silence.

I blinked several times before flicking my gaze up to her again.

The corners of Annabeth's mouth lifted a little bit in a familiar, sarcastic grin. "Nice, Percy. Very f…f…funny…"

Within one second and the other, something changed. Her eyes were searching mine, but out of nowhere she froze. Her mouth popped open and she snapped a hand up to cover it. Sudden, paralyzing disbelief squeezed from her in a single, strangled squeak.

"_Oh…._" Annabeth looked as though she was going to be either very sick or run off yelping like an angered Chihuahua. "You're _serious_."

When she dropped onto her knees in front of me, still petrified, words came rushing out of me, stumbling over one another, rushing unintentionally fast.

"I can't stand the thought of you leaving to go live in Georgia and not seeing you anymore. These two years have been the best years of my life, and I don't want us to just leave once camp ends and never see each other again. You mean so much to me—_We_ mean so much to me, and I-I talked to your dad yesterday, and I can't…I can't…"

I sank out of my kneel, dropped my hands and let out a resigned sigh. "I just…I just can't bear the thought of you forgetting about me. I wanted to…just to make sure you were mine before you left."

Choking emotions filled my throat. I felt foolish— No, foolish was how I felt when I answered a question wrong in class. This was completely reckless. The look Annabeth had given me was like an _insult_, but I didn't blame her. I shouldn't have asked. I shouldn't have asked…

Despite the guilt in my heart and the tightness in my lungs, I looked up and straight in Annabeth's eyes. That expression—

I recognized it, being similar to the one I saw the day the second Titan war ended when I declined the offer to be a god. The look of shining joy that I _lived_ for, but…I didn't understand.

"Percy, I—" Annabeth said, her voice an octave higher. She blinking and cleared her throat, but looked so shocked and happy and speechless. "I would never forget about you. Georgia or no Georgia, you're the best thing that ever happened to me."

"Yeah…?" I mumbled, looking at my hands. "I'm sure there are…I don't know…someone else. Some…sexy Georgian men that catch your eye…"

"There will _never_ be anyone else!" Annabeth exclaimed, and then took my face in her hands, forcing me to look at her. "Percy, what kind of girl do you think I am? I love you—_love _you—and if you think me moving a thousand miles away will change how I feel about you, you're wrong."

"_A thousand miles,_" I repeated, and set the ring down on the picnic blanket, passed the point of embarrassment, basically giving up. "You're probably going to give me the same lecture our parents did, aren't you? We're too young."

She laughed, but it was full of nervousness. "You think I'm saying _no_?"

I looked at her miserably.

"You must be crazier than I thought, Seaweed Brain." For some reason, her voice broke a bit during that last word and she let out a sound that sounded like a half-laugh-half-sob. "Just put the damn ring on me, already." Annabeth did something I did not expect her to do at all; she stretched out her hand palm-down to me, and just kept it there.

It was her left hand.

I stared at her, and after studying her resolute expression, took it. Her nails were trimmed and squared (not painted like any of the other girls' I saw at her school), and despite the few scars visible on her hand, it was wonderfully soft.

Two things I was glad of:

#1. The ring fit perfectly.

#2. I didn't pass out. Right away.

Even after I'd slid it on, I just stared at it, unmoving, holding Annabeth's left hand gently with both of mine. When I finally turned my overwhelmed gaze up to her, she looked—well, no words described it, honestly. Annabeth eyes shone brighter than the stars, her smile so full of amusement and love and sarcasm and Annabeth-ness.

She leaned over and kissed me, killing what few brain cells I'd saved.

"You're coming with me, right?" Annabeth asked, still grinning.

"To where?" I responded stupidly.

"Georgia, idiot." She rolled her eyes at me, and then her eyebrows suddenly shot up as if she remembered something. "You should come over for dinner. We can make that cake you bought. Wait—you _did_ buy a cake, right?"

Without waiting for an answer, a laugh bubbled from her throat, and it sounded like a thousand pounds of pressure lifting up into the air as some sort of ice was broken. "Oh gods, what is everyone at camp going to say? We're going to get teased _so_ much. I can just imagine Clarisse— Oh, what will my _parents_ say? Wait, you said you talked to my dad? What about my mom? Wait—I was _there _yesterday. Sleeping? Why didn't you come say hi to me? You were—"

Annabeth smacked her hands over her mouth and let out a nervous laugh again. "I'm talking too much. I'm sorry."

What had happened when I put the ring on was somewhat unexplainable, making it impossible for words to form in my mouth. For a second after she—well, the humiliation and fear I felt when she had first thought I was kidding had melted away. No, more like exploded from my chest, leaving me feeling dizzy and disoriented and in pieces. Maybe "happy" wasn't the right word to use for the feeling that replaced it, but it was definitely overpowering.

I sat there, shocked into complete silence. When Annabeth had gone rambling, I just stared at her. Words still would not form. Annabeth's exhilaration had bubbled over, but as soon as she realized how much she was talking and clapped her hands over her mouth, the blush of her embarrassment was really not anything to be embarrassed _about_.

She was amazing.

"I'm sorry," Annabeth said again, giggling (since when did she giggle?). Her cheeks kept glowing pink, and out nowhere, she wrapped her arms around my neck. "You're such an _idiot_," she said into my hair.

"Uh…thanks?" Out of all of the things I could have said… My brain was still dumbfounded, but a warm feeling was slowly spreading across my chest, filling my throat with a feeling that nearly blinded me. It took a second, but I found myself returning Annabeth's hug.

My arms wrapped around her waist and I pulled her against me. It was clumsy, certainly. She was half-sitting on my lap, knees bent on either side of me, but we held onto each other like it was the end of the world.

Engaged? Me and Annabeth? Part of my mind was incredulous. _Ridiculous_. Marriage. Engagement.

But there was the ring. Right there on her hand.

Every time I thought about it I was overwhelmed and forced my brain to turn off again so all I could think to do was hold onto Annabeth.

What could I say about the rest of our picnic? After we let go of each other, Annabeth and I just lay there on our backs, staring up at the sky. I could feel the little bit of metal on Annabeth's left hand with my right one, and I couldn't help twisting my thumb over it every so often.

_Married_.

On Sunday when I'd gone shopping around the city I got a simple band for myself at the jewelers and stuck it under the ring slot in the box. When I mentioned it briefly to Annabeth at the picnic, she insisted on putting it on me herself and kissing me afterwards.

The kiss was _great_, but it was awkward remembering (a little too late) that there were children around. The little blond girl a ways away had buried her face in her mother's removed jacket. The public was not a place for these kinds of things, I told myself reluctantly. Definitely not, because I was practically _on top of_ Annabeth, and she had her pinky fingers hooked around my belt loops. We weren't…up to anything, really, just… Well, it just wasn't meant for public.

We laughed for a second before laying back down.

After a long while, Annabeth spoke.

"Hey, Percy, what time is it?" she asked, turning her head to me, making a stray blond curl swing in front of her eyes.

I checked my watch/shield (that had gotten several awesome improvements in the past few years). "Around 6:15. Are you wanting to leave?" To be honest, I was a disappointed. A lot.

"Mmm, we can stay for a little while longer." Her eyes closed, sending tiny shadows across her cheekbones.

As long as I was with her, it honestly didn't matter much to me. Whatever she wanted was perfectly fine with me, so I just agreed with her idea and settled back down to soak up the last bit of our time at the park.

It was a little after seven o'clock when Annabeth and I began packing up the picnic. We stuffed the leftovers and garbage and scuffed-up Frisbee into the basket and I swung the blanket over my shoulders. On the walk back, Annabeth kept her arm hooked around mine, and the entire time our shoulders were brushing as though she couldn't stand being further than an inch from me.

When we got to the car, it was almost relieving to be around more people than we were deep in the park. It felt like less people noticed us and were paying attention to what we did, and so I was not quite as conscious about my actions.

I shoved the picnic basket and blanket into the back of Paul's Prius, but before I could open the door for Annabeth, she stopped me and wrapped her arms around my neck in another one of her suffocating embraces. It was easier, that time, returning the hug, perhaps with too much enthusiasm.

The lemony scent of her hair tickled my nose as I breathed her in. Our bodies were pressed together, chest-against-chest, hips-against-hips, her arms around my neck and mine gripping her waist.

Very gently, I brushed my lips against the skin just under the curve of her jaw and told her I loved her one more time just for good measure.

Annabeth rarely ever cried. Even when she got stabbed in the shoulder with a poisoned dagger, she didn't release a single tear. She was one of the strongest people I knew, but strength had nothing to do with this.

When I pulled back to brush the hair away from her face, I saw her silver eyes shining with saltwater. She blinked at me once, and a drop slid from the inside corner.

Annabeth wiped it away and cleared her throat. "I don't know so much about going home and confronting my parents…" she said, as if nothing had happened.

"Why should you be?"

She held up her left hand and waggled her fingers. The ring glistened there, and I marveled at it for a second before speaking again.

"I already talked to your dad. He was a little overly enthusiastic about it, actually."

We got in the car but sat there for a minute.

"…He really loves you, you know," I said quietly to Annabeth, looking over at her and letting our fingers twist together, "but he doesn't want to hold you back from the best life you can have, whether that's with me or not. Having some normalcy in Georgia will be good for you."

"For _us_, you mean." She rolled her eyes with exaggeration. "It's going to get tiring if you keep forgetting you're coming with. Maybe you could enroll in a class there at the university, too..."

"HAH. No." To avoid an attempt at convincing me anymore, I started the car and we set off.

Maybe it would have been better letting her drive. Everyone's always telling you not to drive distracted, but that's all I _was_, distracted. Every time I took my eyes off the road, even for a millisecond, they'd get drawn to Annabeth and I saw her hair blowing back in the wind from the open car window, the grin on her face, nodding slightly to the music, so beautiful I wanted to stare at her forever. Unfortunately, the dotted line in the middle of the road said otherwise and I was forced back to driving when the honking of other drivers pulled me from the trance.

The drive lasted much shorter than I wanted it to. Before we knew it, the car was idling in front of Annabeth's house, but neither of us made any sort of move to get out. Neither of us said anything, either. We just kept our hands clasped and stared at our laps. I really didn't want to let her go. After such an amazing day, I couldn't just drop her off and go home.

I couldn't stay with her, and she couldn't come home with me. I'll visit over the weekend and we could do something that could last longer than just a few hours. Sure.

_Very_ reluctantly, I let go of Annabeth's hand to get out of the car. When I went around to the other side and opened the door for her, Annabeth got out and immediately grabbed the material of my shirt with her fingers.

"Maybe dad will let you stay on the couch," she said hopefully, eyes full of disappointment of leaving.

"You have school tomorrow," I told her as honestly and gently as I could, and undid her grip from my shirt. "I'll come Saturday, okay?"

There was an obvious look of obstinacy and reluctance on her face as she fought giving in. "…But, Percy, I—"

I didn't wait to let her try to sweet-talk me into anything and just bent down to press my mouth against hers.

Her lips tasted sweet, yet sad, and she held onto me tightly.

"You don't have to go…" Annabeth argued, words slurring against my lips. "You don't…"

When we broke away, I couldn't help but plant another kiss on her forehead. "Saturday, okay? And don't worry." I took her left hand with my left hand and showed her the rings. "We have all the time in the world together."

A forlorn smile touched her face and she took a step backwards towards her house. "I'm holding you to that, Percy."

My eyes followed her as she walked slowly back to her house, but I stopped her before she could open the door.

"Hey, Annabeth!" I called out.

Annabeth turned.

"I love you."

Her smile grew from forlorn to real and twinkling. "I love you, too, Seaweed Brain. Thanks for such an amazing birthday."

At that exact moment, I knew I'd made the right choice. The look on her face, the swelling feeling I had in my chest, everything. I loved that girl more than the whole world. Saturday would come, but it wouldn't matter. We had our entire lives ahead of us.

I watched Annabeth's back as she went into her house, but I knew it wasn't the end.

It was barely even the beginning.


	3. AN

_I hate to break the bad news to everyone, but this story is over. It was only supposed to be one chapter, but I separated it since it was too long._

_So sorry to disappoint, but thanks to EVERYONE for reading and reviewing and being the best fans ever!_

~~TheSoggyBug


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